Is UNC Pulling A Fast One With James McAdoo?

It’s no secret that any college basketball team needs big men, and it’s also no secret that the UNC Tar Heels need big men in the worst way after the sudden transfer of the Wear twins.

After looking at Kadeem Jack, a 6’9″ player who ultimately decided to attend prep school for a year, the Tar Heels landed senior transfer Justin Knox.

Now, it seems that one of their highly regarded 2011 recruits, James McAdoo, may be able to reclassify and attend UNC a year earlier than he planned.

What he would need to do is take three classes over the summer and he’d be able to join the UNC squad in the Fall, helping them out in the post sooner.

All of this has a lot of non-UNC fans crying ‘foul’, saying that UNC is playing fast and loose with the rules in order to help their powerhouse basketball team.

However, the truth is that players reclassify all of the time, and it’s actually no different than what hundreds of players do every year by playing a year after high school in prep school. It’s just that instead of extending their high school career by a year, McAdoo would be shortening it.

Duke player Andre Dawkins did this just last season after the sudden transfer of Eliot Williams.

What McAdoo would be giving up would be the year of accolades for being a high school All-American, meaning he wouldn’t be able to play in the McDonald’s All American game or the Jordan Brand Classic.

However, if McAdoo is physically ready to play in college, it will get him closer to his goal of playing in the NBA faster, and that’s no small thing. So after he participates in the USA Basketball U17 championships, he will have a decision to make, and the Tar Heel nation will wait.